Continuing Research Advances Hazelnuts

The collaborative research initiative undertaken by the Consortium blends modern and classical breeding techniques, ensuring the development of the highest-quality hybrid hazelnut plants.

Currently, the four research institutions of the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium are engaged in cooperative, scientific research and breeding of hybrid hazelnuts. Thanks to this cooperation, developing widely adapted and productive hazelnut cultivars in as short a time as possible will be possible. Arbor Day Foundation members are also an important part of the research by providing measurements and reports about cultivars planted throughout the nation. The results ensure that only the highest quality and most reliably productive plants are developed and made available to the public.

This research was supported by USDA-NIFA Specialty Crops Research Initiative Grant 2009-51181-06028.

Research Plan

A goal of the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium is to rapidly create new and improved cultivars for substantial expansion of the hazelnut industry for food, feed, and biofuel production. Areas of cultivar expansion include Oregon, Washington, the Midwest and eastern U.S. The new cultivars will be disease resistant, climatically adaptable, and commercially reliable for low-input food, feed, and biofuel production. Through collaboration, it is possible to effectively and efficiently use expanded genetic resources, breeding advances, genetic tools and techniques. It also takes advantage of prior investments and existing facilities to expedite the development of improved hazelnuts.

Research and breeding methods are based on thoroughly tested techniques developed at Oregon State University, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Rutgers University, and Arbor Day Farm. The four consortium partners represent over 70 cumulative years of hazelnut research and breeding.